Questioned regarding the strength of the convoy. the captain stated that owing to the pitch darkness, it was impossible to estimate accurately, though he thought there were at least 40 caiques carrying about 100 men each, while small merchantmen would carry several hundreds and stores, The action lasted about three hours, so that German casualties must' have been very heavy. In addition to smashing up the sea-borne attack, the same forces shot down three Junkers 87 dive-bombers during the two days prior to the action, They finally returned safely to their base despite incessant dive-bombing attacks, Bombers began at dawn in group of half a dozen to a dozen strong and effected about 30
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.